Payment by use of identifier

ABSTRACT

Described is a technology that enables a customer, who uses a payment card in a transaction and further provides an identifier in the same transaction, to use the identifier as a payment mechanism in all future transactions. In some embodiments, the technology involves communication between a customer&#39;s user device, a payment service system (PSS), and one or more merchant POS systems. A merchant POS system collects information in a transaction conducted between the merchant POS system and the customer, including, among others, the customer&#39;s contact information (e.g., telephone number), and forwards this information to the PSS. The PSS stores the information as an identifier, where the identifier is stored in association with the card used in the transaction. In a second transaction, the PSS sends a verification request to the user device based on the identifier (e.g., a text message), and processes the transaction only upon confirmation from the customer.

BACKGROUND

When purchasing products or services, either at a physical location oronline (e.g., via the Internet), a customer is typically given theoption to pay by credit card, debit card, or other type of financialinstrument (e.g., electronic payment account). Many online vendors andeven some in-person vendors often require the customer to submitcredentials and/or go through a complicated process. For example, to payby credit card, the customer may be required to present the credit cardand/or submit and verify the card number, expiration date, cardverification value (CVV), billing address, etc. To pay using anelectronic payment account can be equally complicated, as the customermust remember an account username and password and such username andpassword may be vulnerable to security risks. Accordingly, theconventional payment methods present many inconveniences. Although ithas long been a goal to make payment methods simple and easy to execute,any solutions must balance the need for security simplicity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

One or more embodiments of the disclosed technology are illustrated byway of example, and are not intended to be limited, in the figures ofthe accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similarelements or components.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process forfacilitating a financial transaction involving an identifier.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process of receiving anidentifier in connection with use of a payment card.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process of processingand verifying a transaction in connection with use of an identifier.

FIGS. 4A-4B are user interface diagrams illustrating examples ofidentifier confirmation messages that can be generated by a user'scomputing device to enable identifier verification.

FIGS. 5A-5C are user interface diagrams illustrating examples oftransaction confirmation messages that can be generated by a user'scomputing device to enable transaction verification.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an exampletransaction verification system that can be used in verifying andprocessing a transaction.

FIG. 7 are examples of database tables coupled to the transactionverification system of FIG. 6 for use in verifying and processing thetransaction.

FIG. 8 is a high-level block diagram illustrating an example of aprocessing device in which at least some operations related to thedisclosed technology can be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Technology is disclosed for processing a financial transaction by use ofan identifier associated with a customer, particularly (though notexclusively) where the customer has used the identifier with a “paymentcard” at a point-of-sale terminal during a previous financialtransaction (“the disclosed technology”). The term payment card as usedherein refers to a payment mechanism that includes a conventional creditcard, conventional a debit card, a conventional pre-paid gift card,“smartcards” that have embedded integrated circuit chips, e.g.,Europay-MasterCard-Visa (EMV) cards, a proxy card, or any financialinstrument that functions as a combination of any of these mechanisms.The term “proxy card” as used herein refers to a card that bears a cardnumber/account number that appears to be that of a real credit or debitcard account (i.e., it is in the correct format), but where thatcard/account number is actually only a proxy for the customer's realcard/account number. The term “sale”, such as in “point-of-sale,” refersto any type of payment-oriented transaction, including a lease or rentalfor example, and is not limited to an actual purchase.

Briefly described, the disclosed technology enables a customer, who usesa payment card to pay for product(s) or service(s) and further providesan identifier in the same transaction, to use the identifier as apayment mechanism in future transactions (with the same or differentmerchant). In some embodiments, the disclosed technology involvescommunication between a customer's user device, a payment service system(hereinafter, “PSS”), and one or more merchant POS systems associatedwith the PSS. The merchant POS systems collect a variety of informationrelated to transactions conducted between the merchant POS systems andthe customer, and forward this information to the PSS. This informationcan include identification information, such as an identifier thatidentifies the customer. The identifier can be a creation of thecustomer (i.e., user-generated identifier) having one or morealphanumeric characters (e.g., “sf49ers”), contact information of thecustomer (e.g., an email address or a telephone number), a deviceidentifier identifying a computing device of the customer, etc. The PSSstores the identifying information, or identifier, in association withone or more payment cards of the customer used in the transactions. Oncethe identifier is stored, the customer can utilize the identifier as apayment mechanism to conduct future transactions with one or moremerchant POS systems associated with the PSS. When the identifier isused in a transaction, the PSS initiates processing of payment for thetransaction based on the identifier, without requiring any financialinstrument from the customer. In some embodiments, the PSS sends atransaction verification request independently to the customer based onthe identifier (e.g., a text message), and processes the transactiononly upon confirmation by the customer.

Among other benefits, the disclosed technology enables the customer touse the identifier to pay for a purchase without having to provide apayment card. Further, since, in some instances, a transaction is onlyapproved for processing upon confirmation by the customer, the customeris provided an additional security layer, as an attacker would not haveaccess to the medium to which the transaction verification request issent (e.g., email account or smartphone assigned to the phone number).Additionally, the identifier can be stored in association withinformation collected over time through numerous transactions conductedby the customer with different merchants, thereby enabling the PSS toauto-populate information (e.g., billing address, shipping address,name, etc.) on behalf of the customer in processing the customer'stransactions.

Consider the following example scenario in which the disclosedtechnology can be implemented. The PPS is a computer system employed bya payment service to render a variety of payment services to merchantsand their customers. As an example, merchants A and B each employs theservice of the PSS to process payment transactions of the respectivemerchants, including, for example, executing or triggering the processto transfer money from a customer's financial account to the respectivemerchant's financial account. A customer purchases an item from merchantA and initiates a payment transaction by swiping a payment card at themerchant's physical POS device. Merchant A's physical POS systemcollects the transaction data (e.g., payment card information read fromthe card, payment amount, etc.) and forwards it to the PSS to requestpayment authorization. Upon obtaining payment authorization (e.g., froman acquire, card payment network, and/or issuer), the PSS approves thetransaction and notifies the physical merchant POS system.

In some embodiments, the PSS also provides the physical merchant POSsystem an option to generate an electronic receipt for the customer. Forexample, the PSS prompts merchant A with a message whether the merchantdesires to generate an electronic receipt. Either upon receiving theprompt or before the prompt, merchant A asks the customer whether shewishes to receive the electronic receipt, and if so, to provide acontact method in order to receive the receipt. The customer submits,using an interface of the physical POS system, a telephone number, forexample, to receive the receipt (e.g., by the messaging method in theform of a text message). The physical POS system forwards the telephonenumber to the PSS. In response, the PSS generates and delivers thereceipt to the customer using the transaction data and the telephonenumber received from the physical POS system. Furthermore, the PSS sendsa confirmation message prompting the customer to verify the telephonenumber. Note that the confirmation message can be sent along with thereceipt or separate from the receipt, e.g., either before sending thereceipt (to ensure the right individual receives the receipt) or aftersending the receipt.

Upon receiving a confirmation text message back from the customer, thePSS stores the telephone number as an identifier associated with thecustomer, as the PSS confirmation text message has verified that thetelephone number belongs to the customer. In particular, the PSS storesthe identifier in association with the payment card information of thepayment card used in the transaction with merchant A.

In a second transaction with merchant B, the customer provides thetelephone number to pay for a service rendered by merchant B. Merchant Bcan be located at either a physical location or online. That is, thecustomer can provide the identifier at a physical POS system of merchantB or at a website hosted by a POS system of merchant B. Note thatMerchant B can even be the same Merchant A in some embodiments, wherethe customer, having completed a previous transaction, can now completea second transaction by merely providing the identifier.

Upon receiving the identifier, the merchant POS system of merchant Btransmits a payment request to the PSS, where the payment requestincludes the identifier and the transaction data related to the secondtransaction. In order to process the payment request, the PSS accessesone or more databases to find a matching identifier and to identifypayment card information associated with the identifier. Because theidentifier has been previously stored in the transaction with merchantA, the PSS is able to find a match, and in response, sends a transactionverification request message to the customer. For example, as theidentifier is a telephone number, the PSS sends a text message promptingthe customer to confirm the payment to merchant B.

Additionally, because the identifier has been stored in association withthe payment card information, the PSS is able to locate the payment cardof the customer. As such, once the PSS receives the customer'sconfirmation to the transaction verification request message, the PSSinitiates a payment authorization process using the identified paymentcard. In particular, the PSS causes a transfer of the payment amountfrom the financial account associated with the identified payment cardto a financial account associated with the merchant. The term “cause”and variations thereof, as used in the preceding paragraph and elsewherein this description, refers to either direct causation or indirectcausation. For example, a computer system can “cause” an action bysending a message to a second computer system that commands, requests orprompts the second computer system to perform the action. Any number ofintermediary devices may examine and/or relay the message during thisprocess. In this regard, a device can “cause” an action even though itmay not be known to the device whether the action will ultimately beexecuted or completed.

In some embodiments, the customer is prompted to provide contactinformation along with the identifier, e.g., where the identifier is notalready contact information. For example, the customer first submits anidentifier “sally1234,” either directly to the PSS or indirectly througha merchant POS system associated with the PSS. In such an example, thecustomer next submits contact information, as the PSS may require thecustomer to provide some contact information in order to perform thetransaction verification operation discussed above. In some embodiments,the contact information can be collected in an indirect or passive way,e.g., the customer submits a telephone number or an email address toreceive an electronic receipt. In some embodiments, the contactinformation can be collected in a direct way, e.g., the customercompletes a registration process with the PSS and/or through a merchantPOS system associated with the PSS. Upon receiving the contactinformation, the PSS stores the identifier in association with thecontact information, along with the payment card information.

Although the example provided above uses a telephone number as anidentifier according to the embodiment described above, in otherembodiments, an identifier other than the telephone number may be used.The identifier can be any identification information that identifies thecustomer including, for example, an email address, a driver's licensenumber, a social security number, an employee identification number(ID), a device identifier (ID), a mobile application identifier (ID), anIP address, a personal identification number (PIN), a card verificationvalue (CVV), a security access code, a messaging handler (e.g., instantmessage username, social networking username, etc.), or any otheridentification means.

The identifier can also be a biometric identifier (e.g., fingerprint,voice, face, iris, retina, heartbeat, etc.). For example, a customerlooks into a camera installed at a POS device, where the camera capturesa photograph of the customer's face/facial expression. The customer'sphotograph is then stored in association with the customer's credit cardby the PSS. At a next transaction, the customer can simply have his facescanned in order to pay for the transaction. In another example, thecustomer provides his voice (e.g., pronounces his name and payment to berecorded) in addition to a debit card to pay for a transaction. In anext transaction at another (or same) POS system associated with thePSS, the customer can simply speak his name, along with a paymentamount, in order to pay for the transaction, without provision of thedebit card (or any other financial instrument).

Further, the payment card used in the example above is a specific typeof a financial instrument. Other types of financial instruments, otherthan the payment card, can be used to initiate a financial transaction.An example of another type of a financial instrument is a biometricallyidentifiable instrument, such as a person's finger (e.g., forfingerprint recognition), face, iris or retina, heartbeat, etc.Alternatively, a financial instrument can be a software instrument orvirtual instrument, such as a virtual wallet.

References in this description to “an embodiment”, “one embodiment” orthe like, mean that the particular feature, function, structure orcharacteristic being described is included in at least one embodiment ofthe disclosed technology. Occurrences of such phrases in thisspecification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment. Onthe other hand, the embodiments referred to also are not necessarilymutually exclusive.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process 100 forfacilitating a financial transaction involving an identifier. Asillustrated in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the process 100 includes atleast two transactions: transaction 1 involving a merchant POS device122A belonging to a merchant 101A (also referred to as “payee 101A”) anda mobile device 106 belonging to a customer 102 (also referred to as“payer” or “consumer”); and transaction 2 involving a merchant POSdevice 122B belonging to a merchant 101B (also referred to as “payee101B”) and the mobile device 106. The process 100 further includes apayment service system 110 (“PSS 110”), a financial system 130, and oneor more merchant POS systems 120A-N associated with the one or moremerchant POS devices 122A-N, where A is an integer of 1 and N is aninteger greater than 1. Other configurations are also possible in otherembodiments.

Each of the merchant POS systems 120A-N includes a respective POS device122, which can be a general purpose device with data processingcapabilities. For example, the POS device 122 can be a mobile phone, atablet, an e-reader, other mobile or portable computing devices such as,for example, smart watches or glasses, or other stationary computingdevices such as, for example, electronic cash registers. The POS device122 presents an interface 126 on an output device. In the illustratedembodiment, the output device is a touch screen 124, althoughalternative configurations are possible.

The mobile device 106 can be any mobile computing device, for example, asmart phone, tablet computer, notebook computer, and the like. A mobilepayment application 108 runs on the mobile device 106. The PSS 110 canbe a computer system in communication with the mobile device 106 and themerchant POS system(s) 120, such as over a network. The PSS 110 may beone or more computing devices. For example, the PSS 110 may be a servercomputer, a network of computing systems, a cloud computing environment,a virtualized computing environment, or any combination thereof.Communications between the mobile device 106 and the PSS 110 may be anyform of data communications, including mobile telecommunication (e.g.,cellular), WiFi, wireless Ethernet, wired Ethernet, or any other form ofInternet connection.

The PSS 110 facilitates Transaction 1 and Transaction 2 in the process100. Transaction 1 begins when the merchant 101A swipes a payment card104 through a card reader 128 of the merchant POS device 122A. The term“swipe” here refers to any manner of triggering a physical card readerto read a physical card, such as passing a card through a magneticstripe card reader, optical scanner, or smartcard reader, radiofrequency identification (RFID) reader, or the like. The payment card isprovided to the merchant 101A by the customer 102 to initiate a paymenttransaction for product(s) or service(s) tendered by the merchant 102A(e.g., a coffee or a haircut). The merchant POS device 122A reads thepayment card information from the payment card (e.g., the cardholder'sname, payment card number, expiration date, card verification value(CVV), billing address, etc.) and sends it to the PSS 110.

The PSS 110, in turn, processes the transaction by routing anauthorization request to a computer system of an acquirer, where theauthorization request includes data about the transaction (“transactiondata”). The transaction data can include, for example, theaforementioned payment card information as well as the amount of thetransaction, current date and time, data identifying the merchant andthe merchant's merchant category code (MCC). The acquirer, uponreceiving the transaction data, sends the data to a computer system of acard payment network (e.g., Visa, MasterCard, etc.), which forwards thedata to a computer system of an issuer for authorization. If thetransaction is approved or authorized by the issuer, a paymentauthorization message is sent from the issuer to the PSS 110 via a pathopposite of that described above. The PSS 110, in turn, sends anotification of the payment authorization to the merchant POS system120A. Once the transaction is authorized, settlement and clearingoccurs. For example, the PSS 110 executes or triggers the settlement andclearing. During settlement and clearing, the issuer sends the fundsassociated with the authorized transaction through the card paymentnetwork to the acquirer to be deposited in a financial accountassociated with the merchant 101A. The acquirer, the card paymentnetwork, and the issuer can be a part of the financial system 130.

In some embodiments, the PSS 110, in addition to executing or triggeringthe transfer of the funds, sends a transaction approval message fortransmission to the merchant POS system 120A. In such embodiments, thetransaction approval message can include a service message configured tosolicit additional information from the customer 102. For example, thetransaction approval message prompts the merchant 101A via the merchantPOS device 122A associated with the merchant POS system 120A to decidewhether the merchant desires for additional service related to thetransaction. The additional service can be generation of an electronicreceipt for the customer 102. If the merchant 102A (and/or the customer102) desires the receipt, the PSS 110 causes the merchant POS system120A to prompt the customer to provide contact information, such as anemail address or a telephone number, that can be used to receive thereceipt for Transaction 1. The merchant POS system 120A communicateswith the merchant POS device 122A to display the prompt requesting thecontact information from the customer 102, who submits the requestedinformation via a user interface of the merchant POS device 122A. Themerchant POS device 122A forwards the submitted information to themerchant POS system 120A.

After receiving the contact information, the merchant POS system 120Asends a message that includes the contact information to the PSS 110.The PSS 110 generates and sends an electronic receipt to the customer102 using the contact information (e.g., a text message receipt).Furthermore, the PSS 110 stores the contact information as an identifierof the customer 102 for use in future transactions. In storing theidentifier, the PSS 110 associates the identifier with the payment cardinformation of the payment card used in Transaction 1. The PSS 110further creates an account with the PSS 110 on behalf of the customer102 by using this newly created identifier. Accordingly, the customer102 is able to initiate a future transaction by merely providing theidentifier, without being required to go through any complicatedregistration process to obtain the account with the PSS 110 in the firstplace. That is, an association between the payment card and the customer102 gets created, or established, on behalf of the customer, such thatany other merchant, who receives the identifier, is able to obtain thepayment card information of the customer 102, thereby enabling a smoothtransaction experience.

In some embodiments, the PSS 110 causes the merchant POS system 120A toprompt the customer to provide a user-created identifier (i.e., anotheridentifier) in addition to, or in lieu of, the contact information. Forexample, the merchant POS system 120A causes the merchant POS device122A to display a prompt asking the customer 102 whether she wishes tosubmit a user-created identifier that can be used in futuretransactions. If the customer 102 submits, for example, the user-createdidentifier in addition to the contact information (e.g., to receive thereceipt), the merchant POS system 120A forwards both the user-createdidentifier and the contact information to the PSS 110, which stores theuser-created identifier in association with the contact information andthe payment card information. If the customer 102 submits, for example,only the user-created identifier (e.g., to conduct future transactionsusing the identifier), the merchant POS system 120A forwards theidentifier to the PSS 110, which stores the identifier in associationwith the payment card information.

In some embodiments, prior to storing the identifier, the PSS 110performs a verification operation to confirm with the customer 102 thatthe identifier actually belongs to the customer 102. The PSS 110 caninclude a transaction verification system 112 configured to perform suchverification operation. The verification operation provides anadditional security to the future payment transaction. That is, the PSS110, along with the customer 102, can be assured that in the futurepayment transaction, the identifier is authentic and can serve as apayment mechanism of the customer 102.

In some embodiments, the PSS 110 performs the identifier verificationoperation by sending a message that can be displayed on a computingdevice of the customer 102, such as the mobile device 106. For example,the PSS 110 sends an email message using the email address submitted bythe customer 102 to serve as the identifier. Note that in such example,the email address can also be the contact information submitted by thecustomer 102, without any knowledge that such contact information isautomatically used as an identifier of the customer by the PSS 110.

In some embodiments, the PSS 110 performs the identifier verificationoperation by prompting the customer to submit contact information, inaddition to a user-created identifier. In such embodiments, the PSS 110sends a message to the customer using the contact information to verifythe user-created identifier (e.g., Hi, please confirm you have signed upfor “SF49ers” as your identifier for future payments.). The message canbe displayed on a computing device of the customer 102, such as themobile device 106, where the message can be, for example, an emailaddress, a text message, or a printed message (e.g., via postal mail).The contact information is then stored in association with theuser-created identifier. In some embodiments, the PSS 110 performs theidentifier verification operation by simply prompting the customer toconfirm via a user interface at a POS system. For example, after thecustomer submits the user-created identifier, the user interface of thePOS system displays the submitted user-created identifier and promptsthe customer to review and confirm. Further details regarding theidentifier verification operation are discussed in reference to FIG. 2.

Transaction 2 begins when the customer 102 visits a second merchant,e.g., a merchant 101B, and provides the identifier at the merchant POSdevice 122B associated with the merchant POS system 122B. The customer102 provides the identifier to initiate a payment transaction, e.g., forproduct(s) or service(s) rendered by the merchant 122B. The merchant POSdevice 122B, communicates the received identifier along with thetransaction data related to Transaction 2 to the merchant POS system122B. The merchant POS system 122B sends a payment request to the PSS110, where the payment request includes the transaction data and theidentifier.

The transaction verification system 112 of the PSS 110 processes thepayment request, e.g., by parsing the information included in therequest to identify the identifier. The transaction verification system112 uses the identifier to identify a payment card associated with theidentifier based on a previously stored association (e.g., anassociation stored in Transaction 1). In particular, the transactionverification system 112 accesses one or more databases to locate amatching identifier and payment card information (and/or payment card)that is associated with the identifier. Further, the transactionverification system 112 sends a transaction verification message to thecustomer 102 by using the identifier. For example, the identifier is anemail address associated with the customer 102 and the transactionverification message is sent as an email message from an emailassociated with the PSS 110 to the email address. In some embodiments,where the identifier does not provide contact information of thecustomer 102, the transaction verification system 112 accesses the oneor more databases to identify the contact information stored inassociation with the identifier. The transaction verification system 112then sends the transaction verification message to the customer 102 byusing the identified contact information.

The customer 102 can receive the transaction verification message in theform of an email address, a text message, or a push notification. Thepush notification can be viewed through the mobile payment application108 that is associated with the PSS 110. The push notification can bepresented with a “Swipe to confirm” sliding bar configured to receive aconfirmation input from the customer 102 to verify the payment request.In response to a confirmation from the customer 102, the PSS 110proceeds to approve the payment transaction and executes or initiates aprocess to transfer the payment to a financial account associated withthe merchant POS system 120B (e.g., directly or through one or morefinancial institution entities as discussed above). Further detailsregarding the transaction verification operation will be discussed inreference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process 200 ofreceiving an identifier in connection with use of a payment card. Forpurposes of illustration only, the process 200 is explained withreference to some elements illustrated in FIG. 1. The process 200 beginsat block 201, in which a merchant POS system 120A initiates a paymenttransaction by reading card data from the consumer's payment card 104 inresponse to a card swipe through the card reader 128. The payment card104 can be an actual credit, debit, or pre-paid card of the consumer,for example, or it can instead be a proxy card such as described above,e.g., a card issued by the PSS 110 and associated with one or morefinancial accounts of the consumer. The card data can include, forexample, the consumer's name, card number, card expiration date, andcard verification value (CVV).

At block 202, in response to the card swipe, the merchant POS system120A transmits onto a network a transaction approval request thatincludes data about the transaction (“transaction data”), fortransmission to the PSS 110. The transaction data can include, forexample, the aforementioned card data as well as the amount of thetransaction, current date and time, data identifying the merchant andthe merchant's merchant category code (MCC). The transaction approvalrequest may be transmitted directly to the PSS 110, or it may get routedto the PSS 110 through one or more intermediary entities, such as anacquirer and/or a card payment network, etc. In some embodiments, thecard number on the consumer's payment card is sufficient to enablerouting entities to determine that the transaction approval requestshould be routed to the PSS 110, such as in the case where the paymentcard is a proxy card issued by the PSS 110.

At block 203, upon receiving the transaction approval request, the PSS110 executes a transaction authorization process using the transactiondata. As discussed above, the transaction authorization process can beexecuted by the PSS 110 directly or through one or more intermediaryentities. For example, the PSS 110 processes the payment for thetransaction with the merchant POS system 120A by sending anauthorization request to the issuer of the payment card via the acquirerand the card payment network. Upon receiving successful transactionauthorization, the PSS 110 approves the transaction at block 204. Forthe sake of simplicity, the scenario in which the transaction is deniedis not discussed here, since it is not germane to the technique beingintroduced here. In response to the transaction being approved, the PSS110 performs at least two operations. At block 220, the PSS 110 executesor triggers a process to transfer a payment from a financial accountassociated with the customer to a financial account associated with themerchant POS system 120A. At block 205, the PSS 110 sends onto thenetwork a transaction approval message for transmission to the merchantPOS system 120A.

At block 206, the merchant POS system 120A receives the transactionapproval message sent by the PSS 110 in block 205. In the transactionapproval message, the PSS 110 includes a service message configured toprompt the merchant of the merchant POS system 120A whether the merchantdesires for additional service related to the transaction (i.e., block207). The additional service can include, for example, generation of areceipt for the transaction. In another example, the additional servicecan include delivery and/or shipment (e.g., in a transaction forpurchase of furniture). If the merchant does not desire any additionalservice performed by the PSS 110, the process 200 ends.

At block 208, the merchant POS system 120A receives the an input fromthe merchant and/or the customer in response to the prompt at block 207.Note that the merchant and/or the customer can provide this input at anytime convenient for the merchant and/or the customer, which may be whilethe customer is still present at the merchant or at a later time.

If the merchant desires an additional service performed by the PSS 110,the process 200 proceeds to block 209. At block 209, the PSS 110 causesthe merchant POS system 120A to prompt the user to provide additionalinformation associated with the desired service (e.g., an applicationinstalled on the merchant POS system 120A prompts the merchant to askthe customer for one or more pieces of information). In one example, thecustomer informs the merchant that she wants an electronic receipt ofthe transaction. In such example, the merchant submits an input thatrequests for receipt generation to the application, and in response, theapplication causes the merchant POS system 120A to display a prompt forthe customer to submit her contact information, such as an email addressor a telephone number, to receive the electronic receipt. Alternatively,the merchant can submit the customer's contact information into the userinterface of the merchant POS system 120A.

In another example, the transaction is for the purchase of furniturethat requires delivery. In such example, the merchant POS system 120Adisplays on a user interface a prompt for the customer to submit hercontact information, such as a delivery address, to receive thepurchased furniture. Alternatively, the merchant can submit thecustomer's contact information into the user interface of the merchantPOS system 120A.

In yet another example, the additional service is a payment service thatallows the customer to pay for items in future transactions with anyother merchant (including the merchant 120A and/or a different merchant)by use of an identifier associated with the customer (“useridentifier”). In such example, the merchant POS system 120A displays ona user interface a prompt for the customer to submit the useridentifier, such as a telephone number, an email address, or auser-generated identifier that includes one or more alphanumericalcharacters (e.g., “user1234”).

In some embodiments, the contact information submitted by the customeris stored automatically as the user identifier. As discussed above, suchuser identifier can be used by the customer in a future transaction tomake a purchase, in lieu of providing a payment card. In someembodiments, the merchant can prompt the customer to submit the useridentifier (separate from the contact information), where the useridentifier is stored in association with the contact information, and isused by the customer in a future transaction to make a purchase. In suchembodiments, the customer can choose to submit one or more charactersthat make up the identifier, and can submit the contact information atthe same time, or at another time (e.g., subsequently). In someembodiments, the contact information may have already been submitted atanother transaction. In such embodiments, the customer may decidesubsequently to create a user-generated identifier to be associated withthe already submitted contact information.

In some embodiments, the user identifier can be a biometric identifier,such as the customer's voice, face, fingerprint, heartbeat, iris, etc.In such embodiments, the POS system 120A includes a mechanism thatallows the customer to submit the biometric inputs (e.g., voicerecorder, camera, iris scanner, fingerprint scanner, etc.) In someembodiments, the mechanism can be embedded or integrated on a computingdevice of the customer (e.g., mobile device 106). The mechanism can be asoftware application installed on the customer's computing device, whichis equipped with a hardware mechanism (e.g., fingerprint scanner) toreceive the customer's biometric input(s). The software application canbe a mobile application associated with the PSS (e.g., an app thatreceives instructions from the PSS 110), the POS system 120A (e.g., anapp that receives instructions from the POS system 120A and/or thatexecutes instructions on behalf of the POS system 120), or anotherthird-party service associated with the PSS and/or the POS system 120A(e.g., in communication with the PSS and/or the POS system 120A viawired or wireless network).

At block 210, the merchant POS system 120A receives inputs correspondingto the desired service(s), where the inputs include a user identifier,according to one embodiment. At block 211, the merchant POS system 120Asends a message that includes the user identifier, for transmission tothe PSS 110. At block 212, the PSS 110 receives the message with theuser identifier, and in response sends a confirmation message to thecustomer based on the identifier (i.e., block 213), for transmission tothe mobile device 106.

For example, the PSS 110 receives a telephone number as the identifier,and sends a text message using the telephone number to the customer,where the text message can be displayed on a smartphone of the customer.In another example, the PSS 110 receives a telephone number as thecustomer's contact information, in addition to a user identifier (e.g.,sally1234). Upon receiving the identifier, the PSS 110 sends a textmessage to the customer using the telephone number, where the textmessage displays the identifier and prompts the customer to confirm thatthe identifier belongs to her. Note that in such confirmation, thecustomer can verify both her telephone number in addition to heruser-generated identifier. In yet another example, the PSS 110 receivesan email address as the customer's contact information, in addition to auser identifier (e.g., telephone number). In response to receiving theemail address and the telephone number, the PSS 110 sends an emailmessage to the customer using the email address, where the email messagedisplays the telephone number and prompts the customer to confirm thatthe telephone number belongs to her. Note that in such confirmation, thecustomer can verify both her email address and her telephone number.

At block 214, the mobile device 106 of the customer receives theconfirmation message sent by the PSS 110 by various methods that dependon the contact information and/or the user identifier. Within the mobiledevice 106, the confirmation message is conveyed up through the variouslower protocol layers to a mobile messaging application (hereinaftersimply “messaging application”) that is configured to recognize theconfirmation message, in accordance with one of the various methods usedby the PSS 110. The messaging application can include, for example, anemail application, a text message application, a social networkingapplication, a microblogging application, an instant messagingapplication, or any other application capable of receiving such message.In response to recognizing this message, at block 215 the messagingapplication causes the mobile device 106 to display the confirmationmessage to the customer and to prompt the customer to indicate whetherthe customer wishes to confirm the identifier (or cancel/end theprocess). For example, the messaging application displays a text messagesent by the PSS 110. In another example, the messaging applicationdisplays an email message. Examples of what such a display may look likeare illustrated in FIGS. 4A-4B.

At decision block 216, the messaging application receives the customer'sinput in response to the prompt at block 215. If the customer's inputindicates the customer does not confirm (e.g., customer sends a replytext message “Cancel”), the process 200 ends. If the input indicates thecustomer has confirmed (e.g., customer sends a reply text message“Cancel”), the process 200 proceeds to block 217.

At block 217, the messaging application causes the mobile device 106 tosend a message indicating confirmation by the customer, for transmissionto the PSS 110 via the wireless network. At block 218, the PSS 110receives the message from the mobile device 106 indicating that theidentifier is now verified based on the confirmation from the customer.At block 219, the PSS 110 associates and stores the verified identifierwith the card data received at block 201. In some embodiments, the PSS110 also associates and stores the identifier with any contactinformation received at block 210. In such embodiments, the identifieris associated with both the card data and the contact information. In afuture transaction, such as one conducted with a merchant POS system120B as described in reference to FIG. 3, the customer can use theidentifier to pay for the transaction without having to provide thepayment card again (and/or any other payment card).

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process 300 ofprocessing and verifying a transaction in connection with the use of anidentifier. For purposes of illustration only, the process 300 isexplained with reference to some elements illustrated in FIG. 1. Theprocess 300 begins at block 301 when a merchant POS system 120B receivesa user identifier from a customer to initiate a payment transaction. Theuser identifier can be the identifier stored in association with carddata (or the card itself) and/or contact information associated with thecustomer at block 219 of the process 200, in accordance with someembodiments.

In some embodiments, the merchant POS system 120B receives theidentifier when a merchant inputs the identifier, provided by the user,into a user interface of the merchant POS system 120B. In someembodiments, the merchant POS system 120B can receive the identifierwhen the customer herself inputs the identifier into the user interfaceof the merchant POS system 120B. In some embodiments, the identifier canbe a biometric identifier, such as the customer's voice, face,fingerprint, heartbeat, iris, etc. In such embodiments, the customer cansubmit the biometric input, for example, by placing her finger on afingerprint scanner. In another example, the customer can pronounce hername (and/or a payment amount) into a voice recognition mechanism. Insome embodiments, the merchant POS system 120B can be a physical POSsystem. In some embodiments, the merchant POS system 120B can be anonline POS system, such as an e-commerce website hosted by a server onbehalf of the merchant.

Note that in the process 300, the merchant POS system 120B can be thesame or different from the merchant POS system 120A discussed in theembodiment of FIG. 2. For example, the merchant POS system 120A may be aphysical department store while the merchant POS system 120B may be anonline coffee bean specialty store. In another example, the merchant POSsystem 120A in the process 200 is the same as the merchant POS system120B at which the customer revisits, where the customer can simply payusing the identifier without having to provide a payment card in thesecond visit.

In addition to the user identifier, the merchant POS system 120B hasinformation, or data, about the transaction (“transaction data”). Forexample, the merchant submits the transaction data to the merchant POSsystem 120B, where the transaction data includes the item(s) beingpurchased by the customer, the price(s) of the item(s), and the totaltransaction amount (i.e., payment amount). At block 302, the merchantPOS system 120B transmits onto a network a payment request that includesthe transaction data and the user identifier, for transmission to thePSS 110.

At block 303, the PSS 110 receives the transaction data and the useridentifier. The PSS 110 can parse the payment request to determine, forexample, a payment amount being requested and a user identifier to beused in processing the payment. At block 304, having determined the useridentifier, the PSS 110 identifies a payment card based on the useridentifier. In particular, the PSS 110 searches one or more databases(e.g., the databases 702, 704, and 706) to identify the user identifierand payment card data associated with the identifier. Once the PSS 110has successfully determined the payment card associated with the useridentifier, the PSS 110 can initiate a transfer of the payment amountfrom a financial account associated with the payment card to a financialaccount associated with the merchant POS system 120B to pay for thetransaction. Initiating the transfer can include, for example,communicating with the customer (e.g., push notification, email, textmessage, etc.) to verify the transaction before causing monetary fundsto be transferred, communicating with the merchant POS system 120B toverify the transaction (e.g., “Ok to accept identifier for payment?”“Fraud?” “Confirm?” etc.), and/or communicating with variousintermediary financial entities (e.g., the card payment network) totransfer funds for the payment amount.

In some embodiments, the PSS 110 searches the one or more databases toidentify contact information associated with the identifier to send atransaction confirmation request based on the contact information. Insome embodiments, where the identifier provides the contact information(e.g., the identifier is an email address), the PSS 110 can send thetransaction confirmation request to the customer based on thatinformation.

At block 305, the PSS 110 sends a message to request confirmation of thetransaction (i.e., the transaction confirmation request). As discussedabove, the PSS 110 can send the transaction confirmation request to atelephone number, an email address, or a mobile application using a pushnotification service. The transaction confirmation request can bedisplayed on the mobile device 106 of the customer (e.g., as a textmessage, an email message, or a push notification). At block 306, themobile device 106 receives the transaction confirmation request, andprompts the customer to confirm the payment for the transaction (i.e.,block 307).

In some embodiments, within the mobile device 106, the transactionconfirmation request is conveyed up through the various lower protocollayers to a mobile messaging application (hereinafter simply “messagingapplication”) that is configured to recognize the transactionconfirmation request, in accordance with the method used by the PSS 110to send the request. The messaging application can be, for example, anemail application or a text message application. In response torecognizing the request message, at block 307 the messaging applicationcauses the mobile device 106 to display the transaction confirmationrequest to the customer, and to prompt the customer to indicate whetherthe customer wishes to confirm the payment, thereby verifyingtransaction is authentic, or cancel/end the payment for the transactioninitiated at block 301. For example, the messaging application displaysa text message sent by the PSS 110, as illustrated in FIG. 5B. Inanother example, the messaging application displays an email message, asillustrated in FIG. 5C.

In some embodiments, the mobile payment application 108 (“paymentapplication 108”) is installed on the mobile device 106, where thepayment application 108 is associated with the PSS to facilitate thetransaction confirmation request. In such embodiments, the transactionconfirmation request is conveyed up through the various lower protocollayers to the payment application 108 that is configured to recognizethe request. In response to recognizing this request message, at block215 the payment application 108 causes the mobile device 106 to displaythe transaction confirmation request to the customer, and to prompt thecustomer to indicate whether the customer wishes to confirm the payment,thereby verifying transaction is authentic, or cancel/end the paymentfor the transaction initiated at block 301. For example, the paymentapplication 108 displays a push notification displaying the transactionconfirmation request, as illustrated in FIG. 5A.

At decision block 308, the payment application 108 (or the messagingapplication) installed on the mobile device 106 receives the customer'sinput in response to the prompt at block 307. If the customer's inputindicates the customer does not confirm (e.g., customer selects “Cancel”within the push notification), the process 300 ends. If the inputindicates the customer has confirmed (e.g., customer swipes to confirmwithin the push notification), the process 300 proceeds to block 309.

At block 309, the payment application 108 (or the messaging application)causes the mobile device 106 to send a message indicating confirmationby the customer, for transmission to the PSS 110 via the wirelessnetwork. At block 310, the PSS 110 receives the message from the mobiledevice 106 indicating that the payment has been confirmed, therebyindicating the transaction has been approved by the customer (i.e., thetransaction is verified to be authentic). At block 311, in response tothe customer's confirmation (i.e., the customer's approval of thepayment), the PSS 110 executes a transaction authorization process usingthe transaction data. The transaction authorization process can beexecuted by the PSS 110 directly or through one or more intermediaryentities. For example, the PSS 110 processes the payment request fromthe merchant POS system 120B by sending an authorization request to theissuer of the payment card via the acquirer and the card paymentnetwork. Upon receiving successful transaction authorization, the PSSapproves the transaction at block 311. For the sake of simplicity, thescenario in which the transaction is denied is not discussed here, sinceit is not germane to the technique being introduced here.

In response to the transaction being approved, the PSS 110 performs atleast two operations. At block 312, the PSS 110 executes or initiates aprocess to transfer a payment from a financial account associated withthe customer to a financial account associated with the merchant POSsystem 120B. At block 312, the PSS 110 sends onto the network atransaction approval message for transmission to the merchant POS system120B.

At block 312, the merchant POS system 120B receives the transactionapproval message sent by the PSS 110 in block 312. At block 314, inresponse to the message, the merchant POS system 120B outputs aconventional transaction approval indication to the merchant. Theindication may be in the form of, for example, a printed paper receipt,a message displayed on a display device, or a combination thereof. Insome embodiments, the PSS 110 can generate and send an electronicreceipt to the mobile device 106 of the customer in response to thetransaction being approved at block 311.

FIG. 4A is a user interface diagram illustrating an example of anidentifier confirmation message in the form of a text message that canbe generated for display by a user's computing device to enableidentifier verification. For example, the transaction verificationsystem 112 generates a text message to be sent and received by themobile device 106, which can output a display 401 such as illustrated inFIG. 4A. In the display 401, the customer is shown a text message 410that prompts the customer to verify the identifier (e.g., telephonenumber) submitted in the transaction (e.g., service at Alexis Salon)where the customer's payment card (e.g., a card issued by MasterCardending in “1234”) has been used. The customer can confirm the identifierby inputting a text message “Confirm” into the text input field 412 andclick the “Send” button 414 to verify that the identifier used in thetransaction belongs to the customer. Once the identifier is confirmed,the customer can receive additional services, such as receiving areceipt for the transaction at Alexis Salon. As discussed above, thetext message is sent to the customer's mobile device 106 based on atelephone number submitted by the customer. The telephone number caneither be the identifier or contact information provided (in addition tothe identifier) by the customer at the user interface of the POS system120.

FIG. 4B is a user interface diagram illustrating an example of anidentifier confirmation message in the form of an email that can begenerated for display by a user's computing device to enable identifierverification. For example, the transaction verification system 112generates an email message 420 to be sent and received by the mobiledevice 106, which can output a display 402 such as illustrated in FIG.4B. In the display 402, the customer is shown the email message 420 thatprompts the customer to confirm the identifier (e.g., email address)submitted in a transaction (e.g., service at Alexis Salon), where thecustomer's payment card (e.g., a card issued by MasterCard ending in“1234”) has been used. The customer can confirm the identifier byhitting the “Reply” button 422 with an email message “Confirm” to verifythat the identifier used in the transaction belongs to the customer.Once the identifier is confirmed, the customer can receive additionalservices, such as receiving a receipt for the transaction at AlexisSalon. As discussed above, the email message is sent to the customer'smobile device 106 based on an email address submitted by the customer.The email address can either be the identifier or contact informationprovided (in addition to the identifier) by the customer at the userinterface of the POS system 120.

FIG. 5A is a user interface diagram illustrating an example of atransaction confirmation message in the form of a push notification thatcan be generated for display by a user's computing device to enabletransaction verification. For example, the transaction verificationsystem 112 and/or the PSS 110 generates a push notification message 510to be sent and received by a mobile application installed on the mobiledevice 106, which can output a display 501 such as illustrated in FIG.5A. In the display 501, the customer is shown the push notificationmessage 510 that prompts the customer to verify a payment transaction(e.g., purchase at Bernicio Café), where the customer has submitted tothe merchant an identifier, in lieu of a payment card and/or paymentcard information, to pay for the purchase. As discussed above, inresponse to the customer's submission of the identifier, the pushnotification message 510 is sent to the customer using contactinformation associated with the identifier, such as a device IDidentifying the mobile device 106. In some embodiments, the pushnotification message 510 is sent using the identifier itself (e.g., theidentifier is a device ID). The customer can confirm the purchase byselecting a “Confirm” button 512, thereby verifying that the paymenttransaction is authentic (i.e., authorized by the customer).Alternatively, the customer can choose to cancel the payment transactionby selecting a “Cancel” button 514. If the customer selects the“Confirm” button 512, the payment transaction is verified. Then, thepayment service system 110 and/or the transaction verification system112 can execute and/or trigger a process to transfer a payment amountfrom the customer's financial account to the merchant's financialaccount.

FIG. 5B is a user interface diagram illustrating an example of atransaction confirmation message in the form of a text message that canbe generated for display by a user's computing device to enabletransaction verification. For example, the transaction verificationsystem 112 and/or the PSS 110 generates a text message 520 to be sentand received by the mobile device 106, which can output a display 502such as illustrated in FIG. 5B. In the display 502, the customer isshown the text message 520 that prompts the customer to verify a paymenttransaction (e.g., purchase at Bernicio Café), where the customer hassubmitted to the merchant an identifier, in lieu of a payment cardand/or payment card information, to pay for the purchase. As discussedabove, in response to the customer's submission of the identifier, thetext message 520 is sent to the customer using contact informationassociated with the identifier. In some embodiments, the text message520 is sent using the identifier itself (e.g., the identifier is atelephone number). The customer can confirm the purchase by inputting atext message “Confirm” into the text input field 522 and click the“Send” button 524, thereby verifying that the payment transaction isauthentic (i.e., authorized by the customer). Once the paymenttransaction is confirmed by the customer, the transaction verificationsystem 112 and/or the PSS 110 can execute and/or trigger a process totransfer a payment amount from the customer's financial account to themerchant's financial account.

FIG. 5C is a user interface diagram illustrating an example of atransaction confirmation message in the form of an email that can begenerated for display by a user's computing device to enable transactionverification. For example, the transaction verification system 112and/or the PSS 110 generates an email message 530 to be sent andreceived by the mobile device 106, which can output a display 503 suchas illustrated in FIG. 5C. In the display 503, the customer is shown theemail message 530 that prompts the customer to verify a paymenttransaction (e.g., purchase at Bernicio Café), where the customer hassubmitted to the merchant an identifier, in lieu of a payment cardand/or payment card information, to pay for the purchase. As discussedabove, in response to the customer's submission of the identifier, theemail message 530 is sent to the customer using contact informationassociated with the identifier. In some embodiments, the email message530 is sent using the identifier itself (e.g., the identifier is anemail address). The customer can confirm the purchase by hitting the“Reply” button 532 to send an email message “Confirm” to the transactionverification system 112 and/or the PSS 110, thereby verifying that thepayment transaction is authentic (i.e., authorized by the customer).Once the payment transaction is confirmed by the customer, thetransaction verification system 112 and/or the PSS 110 can executeand/or trigger (or initiate) a process to transfer a payment amount fromthe customer's financial account to the merchant's financial account.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an exampletransaction verification system 600 (“system 600”) that can be used inverifying and processing a transaction. In some embodiments, the system600 can be the transaction verification system 112 of FIG. 1, where thesystem 600 can be a component or sub-system of the payment servicesystem 110 of FIG. 1. Alternatively, the system 600 can be implementedon a separate computing system (e.g., on a separate server orserver(s)).

The system 600 can include a transaction registration engine 610 and atransaction verification engine 620, among others. The transactionregistration engine 610 and the transaction verification engine 620 caneach access one or more database tables from a customer account database630, a payment card database 632, and/or a transaction history database634 to retrieve and/or store data.

The transaction registration engine 610 is triggered whenever a swipingtransaction occurs at a POS device associated with a POS system of amerchant. In particular, the system 600 receives (a) payment cardinformation as a result of the swipe and (b) contact informationassociated with the customer. The contact information can be provided bythe customer at a user interface of the POS device. The contactinformation can be, for example, an email address of the customer. Asdiscussed above, in some embodiments, the customer can also provide anidentifier at the user interface of the POS device. The identifier canbe, for example, a user-generated identifier created by the customer(e.g., sally1234).

Using the payment card information, the contact information, and/or theidentifier, the transaction registration engine 610 checks one or moredatabase tables, such as database table 702 of FIG. 7 stored, e.g., in acustomer account database 630, and the payment card database tables 704,706 of FIG. 7 stored, e.g., in a payment card database 632, to determinewhether a new payment service account should be registered on behalf ofthe customer associated with the swiping transaction. For example, if apayment service account associated with the email address and thepayment card information already exists in the database tables, a newpayment service account will not be created. In another example, if thepayment card that is stored in association with the email address in thedatabase table 704 is different from the payment card used in theswiping transaction, then the transaction registration module 610 cancreate a new payment card record associating the payment card used inthe swiping transaction with the email address in the database table704. Further, the transaction registration module 610 can create a newrecord associating the email address with the identifier in the databasetable 702. In this manner, a customer's payment service account can haveone email address associated with multiple payment cards and oneidentifier associated with the multiple payment cards.

In yet another example, if the payment card, the email address, and theidentifier from the swiping transaction are not stored at all in any ofthe database tables 702, 704, 706, then the transaction registrationmodule 610 can create a new payment card record associating the paymentcard used in the swiping transaction with the email address in thedatabase table 704. Further, the transaction registration module 610 cancreate a new record associating the email address with the identifier inthe database table 702.

In some embodiments, the customer can provide his/her contactinformation in the form of a telephone number (as opposed to an emailaddress). In such embodiments, the transaction registration module 610checks the one or more database tables for the telephone number inassociation with the payment card (and/or in association with theidentifier) in order to determine whether a new payment service accountshould be registered for the customer associated with the swipingtransaction.

In some embodiments, prior to storing the identifier, the transactionregistration engine 610 verifies whether the identifier truly belongs tothe customer. In such embodiments, the transaction registration engine610 sends a confirmation message request to the customer using thecustomer's submitted contact information. For example, the transactionregistration engine 610 sends a text message 612 (e.g., “Please confirm“sally1234” is your identifier”) to the telephone number for display ona computing device of the customer (e.g., a smartphone). In the example,the customer can confirm the identifier by replying with another textmessage, e.g., “Yes.” In another example, the transaction registrationengine 610 sends an email 614 (e.g., “Please confirm “sally1234” is youridentifier”) to the email address for display on a computing device ofthe customer. In such example, the customer can confirm the identifierby replying with another email message, e.g., “Yes.” Once thetransaction registration engine 610 receives the reply messageindicating the customer has confirmed the identifier, the transactionregistration engine 610 changes the customer account status to“Verified.” Otherwise, the account status remains “Unverified.”

The registration verification module 620 can verify payment serviceaccounts created on behalf of customers by various methods describedwith reference to FIG. 3. In other words, the registration verificationmodule 620 can be configured to send a transaction confirmation requestvia a push notification 622, an email 624, a text message 626, or anyother suitable communication channel to request a customer to verifyhis/her transaction (in which the identifier is used) by providing areply response through the same medium with which the transactionconfirmation request has been sent.

Once the registration verification module 620 receives the replyresponse confirming the transaction, the registration verificationmodule 620 approves the transaction. In some embodiments, theregistration verification module 620 communicates the approval status tothe payment service system 110, which executes or triggers the transferof a payment amount from the customer's financial account to themerchant's financial account. In some embodiments, the registrationverification module 620 itself executes or triggers the transfer of apayment amount from the customer's financial account to the merchant'sfinancial account.

One or more components and/or modules of the system 600 can beimplemented on the merchant POS device 122 of FIG. 1, e.g., in a mobilepayment application installed on the merchant POS device 122, such asthe mobile payment application 108. Likewise, one or more componentsand/or modules of the system 600 can be implemented on the mobile device106 of FIG. 1, e.g., in the mobile payment application 108 installed onthe mobile device 106. Additionally, in various embodiments, thefunctionality of the merchant POS device 122 and the transactionverification system 600 can be implemented in a single device orco-located (e.g., at a merchant's location).

FIG. 7 are examples of database tables coupled to the system of FIG. 6for use in verifying and processing the transaction. The customeraccount database table 702 can include various fields of informationsuch as, but not limited to: customer ID1 (e.g., email address),customer ID2 (e.g., telephone number), customer ID3 (e.g., deviceidentifier), customer ID4 (e.g., user-generated identifier), first name,last name, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the customer accountdatabase table 702 can include billing address, shipping address, and/orthe like.

The payment card database tables 704, 706 can each include variousfields of information such as, but not limited to: customer ID1 orcustomer ID2 or a combination thereof, payment card number, issuer,expiration date, billing address, verification status, and/or the like.

FIG. 8 is a high-level block diagram illustrating an example of aprocessing device 800 that can represent any of the devices describedabove, such as the POS device 122, the POS system 120, the paymentservice system 110, the transaction verification 112, and/or thefinancial system 130, in which at least some operations related to thedisclosed technology can be implemented. In alternative embodiments, theprocessing device operates as a standalone device or can be connected(e.g., networked) to other processing devices. In a networkeddeployment, the processing device can operate in the capacity of aserver or a client computer in a client-server network environment, oras a peer computer in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) networkenvironment.

The processing device 800 can be a server computer, a client computer, apersonal computer (PC), a mobile electronic user device, a tablet PC, alaptop computer, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant(PDA), a cellular telephone or a smart phone (e.g., an iPhone or anAndroid phone), a web-enabled household appliance, a network router,switch or bridge, a (hand-held) gaming device, a music player, or anycomputer capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that computer.

In the illustrated embodiment, the processing device 800 includes one ormore processors 802, one or more memories 804, a network interfacedevice 808, and one or more input/output devices (I/O) devices 810, allcoupled to each other through an interconnect 806. The interconnect 806can be or include one or more conductive traces, buses, point-to-pointconnections, controllers, adapters and/or other conventional connectiondevices.

The processor(s) 802 can be or include, for example, one or more generalpurpose programmable microprocessors, microcontrollers, applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable gate arrays, or thelike, or a combination of such devices. The processor(s) 802 control theoverall operation of the processing device 800.

The one or more memor(ies) 804 can be or include one or more physicalstorage devices, which can be in the form of random access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM) (which can be erasable and programmable), flashmemory, miniature hard disk drive, or other suitable type of storagedevice, or a combination of such devices. The one or more memor(ies) 804can store data and instructions that configure the processor(s) 802 toexecute operations in accordance with the techniques described above.

While the computer-readable medium or computer-readable storage mediumis shown in an exemplary embodiment to be a single medium, the term“computer-readable medium” and “computer-readable storage medium” shouldbe taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches andservers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term“computer-readable medium” and “computer-readable storage medium” shallalso be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encodingor carrying a set of instructions for execution by the computer and thatcause the computer to perform any one or more of the methodologies ofthe presently disclosed technique and innovation.

In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of thedisclosed technology, can be implemented as part of an operating systemor a specific application, component, program, object, module orsequence of instructions referred to as “computer programs.” Thecomputer programs typically comprise one or more instructions set atvarious times in various memory and storage devices in a computer, andthat, when read and executed by one or more processing units orprocessors in a computer, cause the computer to perform operations toexecute elements involving the various aspects of the disclosure.

Moreover, while embodiments have been described in the context of fullyfunctioning computers and computer systems, those skilled in the artwill appreciate that the various embodiments are capable of beingdistributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that thedisclosure applies equally regardless of the particular type of machineor computer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution.

Further examples of computer-readable storage media, computer-readablemedia, or computer-readable (storage) media include, but are not limitedto, recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memorydevices, floppy and other removable disks, hard disk drives, opticaldisks (e.g., Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital VersatileDisks, (DVDs), etc.), among others, and transmission type media such asdigital and analog communication links.

The network interface device 808 enables the computer to mediate data ina network with an entity that is external to the host server, throughany known and/or convenient communications protocol supported by thehost and the external entity. The network interface device can includeone or more of a network adaptor card, a wireless network interfacecard, a router, an access point, a wireless router, a switch, amultilayer switch, a protocol converter, a gateway, a bridge, bridgerouter, a hub, a digital media receiver, and/or a repeater.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout thedescription and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and thelike are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to anexclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of“including, but not limited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,”“coupled,” or any variant thereof, means any connection or coupling,either direct or indirect, between two or more elements; the coupling ofconnection between the elements can be physical, logical, or acombination thereof. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,”and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall referto this application as a whole and not to any particular portions ofthis application. Where the context permits, words in the above DetailedDescription using the singular or plural number can also include theplural or singular number respectively. The word “or,” in reference to alist of two or more items, covers all of the following interpretationsof the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list,and any combination of the items in the list.

While some aspects of the disclosure are presented below in some claimforms, the inventors contemplate the various aspects of the disclosurein any number of claim forms. Accordingly, the applicant reserves theright to add additional claims after filing the application to pursuesuch additional claim forms for other aspects of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of processing a payment transaction onbehalf of a customer by use of an identifier associated with thecustomer, comprising: receiving, from a first merchant system of a firstmerchant and by a payment service system (PSS), first transactioninformation associated with a first payment transaction between thecustomer and the first merchant, the first payment transaction involvinga swipe of a payment card, associated with the customer, through a cardreader of a first physical point-of-sale (POS) device associated withthe first merchant system, the first transaction information includingpayment card information associated with the payment card; receiving,from the first merchant system and by the PSS, contact informationassociated with the customer and the identifier associated with thecustomer, the contact information and the identifier being provided bythe customer at a user interface of the first physical POS deviceassociated with the first merchant system; sending, by the PSS, aconfirmation request to a customer device operated by the customer usingthe contact information, the confirmation request configured to promptthe customer for a confirmation of the identifier via the customerdevice; responsive to receiving the confirmation of the identifier fromthe customer device, storing, by the PSS, an association between theidentifier, the contact information, and the payment card information;receiving, from a second merchant system of a second merchant and by thePSS, the identifier associated with the customer, the identifier beingprovided by the customer at a user interface of a second physical POSdevice associated with the second merchant system, wherein theidentifier is provided in lieu of the payment card or the payment cardinformation to initiate a second payment transaction with the secondmerchant; identifying, by the PSS, the payment card and the contactinformation associated with the customer based on the stored associationbetween the identifier, the contact information, and the payment cardinformation identifying the payment card; transmitting, by the PSS, atransaction confirmation request to the customer device using thecontact information, the transaction confirmation request configured toprompt the customer to confirm or cancel the second payment transactionvia the customer device; receiving, by the PSS, a confirmation responsefrom the customer device confirming the second payment transaction; andresponsive to receiving the confirmation response, executing a transferof a payment amount, associated with the second payment transaction,from a financial account associated with the identified payment card toa financial account associated with the second merchant system to payfor the second payment transaction.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe identifier comprises any of an email address, a telephone number, ora customer-generated identifier.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein: thecustomer device is a mobile device; the contact information comprises atelephone number associated with the customer; and the transactionconfirmation request is sent as a text message to the telephone numberfor display on the mobile device.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein: thecustomer device is a mobile device; the contact information comprises adevice ID identifying the mobile device; and the transactionconfirmation request is sent as a push notification through a mobileapplication installed on the mobile device, the mobile applicationassociated with the PSS.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the paymentcard comprises any of a credit card, a debit card, or a pre-paid card.6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors, perform operations comprising: receiving, by a paymentservice system (PSS) from a first merchant system associated with afirst merchant, first transaction information associated with a firstpayment transaction between a customer and the first merchant, the firstpayment transaction involving a swipe of a payment card, associated withthe customer, through a card reader of a first physical point-of-sale(POS) device associated with the first merchant system, the firsttransaction information including payment card information associatedwith the payment card; receiving, by the PSS from the first merchantsystem, contact information associated with the customer and anidentifier associated with the customer, the contact information and theidentifier being provided by the customer at a user interface of thefirst physical POS device associated with the first merchant system;sending, by the PSS, a confirmation request to a customer deviceoperated by the customer using the contact information, the confirmationrequest configured to prompt the customer for a confirmation of theidentifier via the customer device; responsive to receiving theconfirmation of the identifier from the customer device, storing, by thePSS, an association between the identifier, the contact information, andthe payment card information; receiving, by the PSS from a secondmerchant system associated with a second merchant, the identifierassociated with the customer, the identifier being provided by thecustomer at a user interface of a second physical POS device associatedwith the second merchant system, wherein the identifier is provided inlieu of the payment card or the payment card information to initiate asecond payment transaction with the second merchant; identifying, by thePSS, the payment card and the contact information associated with thecustomer based on the stored association between the identifier, thecontact information, and the payment card information identifying thepayment card; transmitting, by the PSS, a transaction confirmationrequest to the customer device using the contact information, thetransaction confirmation request configured to prompt the customer toconfirm or cancel the second payment transaction via the customerdevice; receiving, by the PSS, a confirmation response from the customerdevice confirming the second payment transaction; and responsive toreceiving the confirmation response, executing a transfer of a paymentamount, associated with the second payment transaction, from a financialaccount associated with the identifier payment card to a financialaccount associated with the second merchant system to pay for the secondpayment transaction.
 7. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 6, wherein the identifier comprises any of an emailaddress, a telephone number, or a customer-generated identifier.
 8. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein: thecustomer device is a mobile device; the contact information comprises atelephone number associated with the customer; and the transactionconfirmation request is sent as a text message to the telephone numberfor display on the mobile device.
 9. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein: the customerdevice is a mobile device; the contact information comprises a device IDidentifying the mobile device; and the transaction confirmation requestis sent as a push notification through a mobile application installed onthe mobile device, the mobile application associated with the PSS. 10.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, whereinthe payment card comprises any of a credit card, a debit card, or apre-paid card.
 11. A system comprising: one or more computers and one ormore storage devices storing instructions that are operable, whenexecuted by the one or more computers, to cause the one or morecomputers to perform operations comprising: receiving, by a paymentservice system (PSS) from a first merchant system associated with afirst merchant, first transaction information associated with a firstpayment transaction between a customer and the first merchant, the firstpayment transaction involving a swipe of a payment card, associated withthe customer, through a card reader of a first physical point-of-sale(POS) device associated with the first merchant system, the firsttransaction information including payment card information associatedwith the payment card; receiving, by the PSS from the first merchantsystem, contact information associated with the customer and anidentifier associated with the customer, the contact information and theidentifier being provided by the customer at a user interface of thefirst physical POS device associated with the first merchant system;sending, by the PSS, a confirmation request to a customer deviceoperated by the customer using the contact information, the confirmationrequest configured to prompt the customer for a confirmation of theidentifier via the customer device; responsive to receiving theconfirmation of the identifier from the customer device, storing, by thePSS, an association between the identifier, the contact information, andthe payment card information; receiving, by the PSS from a secondmerchant system associated with a second merchant, the identifierassociated with the customer, the identifier being provided by thecustomer at a user interface of a second physical POS device associatedwith the second merchant system, wherein the identifier is provided inlieu of the payment card or the payment card information to initiate asecond payment transaction with the second merchant; identifying, by thePSS, the payment card and the contact information associated with thecustomer based on the stored association between the identifier, thecontact information, and the payment card information identifying thepayment card; transmitting, by the PSS, a transaction confirmationrequest to the customer device using the contact information, thetransaction confirmation request configured to prompt the customer toconfirm or cancel the second payment transaction via the customerdevice; receiving, by the PSS, a confirmation response from the customerdevice confirming the second payment transaction; and responsive toreceiving the confirmation response, executing a transfer of a paymentamount, associated with the second payment transaction, from a financialaccount associated with the identifier payment card to a financialaccount associated with the second merchant system to pay for the secondpayment transaction.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the identifiercomprises any of an email address, a telephone number, or acustomer-generated identifier.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein: thecustomer device is a mobile device; the contact information comprises atelephone number associated with the customer; and the transactionconfirmation request is sent as a text message to the telephone numberfor display on the mobile device.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein:the customer device is a mobile device; the contact informationcomprises a device ID identifying the mobile device; and the transactionconfirmation request is sent as a push notification through a mobileapplication installed on the mobile device, the mobile applicationassociated with the PSS.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the paymentcard comprises any of a credit card, a debit card, or a pre-paid card.